How Does Tourism Affect Urban Ecological Standards? A Geospatial Analysis of Wetland Transformations in the Coastal Resort Town of Digha, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The growth of tourism often expedites the process of urbanization in terms of expanding built-up areas and other impervious surfaces at the cost of the original natural serenity. The coastal resort town of Digha, situated at the Medinipur coastal plain of West Bengal, India, had been developed after substantial land use conversions and loss of perennial interdunal wetlands. The effects of wetland transformations are more evident in terms of continuous ecosystem degeneration and reduction of subsistence-based livelihood provisions for the local populace. However, this trend of urban expansion was severely contested by the ‘smart city’ concept which the State Government had envisaged for the sustainable development of Digha Township in recent years. This new concept advocated for a balanced land use planning giving adequate attention to its green infrastructure and urban ecological standards towards develo** the cities of the new century. An appropriate assessment of the present patterns of urbanization and consequent environmental transformations thus becomes the prerequisite of any such development endeavour. In this context, the present study aimed to quantify the cumulative stress of expanding buildups on the interdunal wetland ecosystems around the renowned coastal resort town of Digha of this region through a coupling of geospatial technologies with statistical analyses. For this purpose, Normalized Difference Built-up Index and Soil Moisture Index were derived from the multispectral Landsat images of the year 2000 and 2018, respectively, as indicative physical and bio-physical parameters. The linear maximum likelihood regression model was then applied on these derivatives to infer the spatio-temporal relationships between the expansion of buildups and changes in wetland characteristics of this area. Results indicated that the magnitude of wetland encroachment was more severe within the newly developed high-density built-up areas. Moreover, the interdunal wetlands were found to be shrinking more rapidly in 2018 compared to that of the 2000 scenario in direct correspondence with the enhanced growth of built-up zones. Remarkably, a few sites in the rural fringes were also experiencing aggravated loss of soil moisture contents chiefly due to the establishment of isolated resort compounds and gated housing complexes in spite of being quite far from the core urban zones. Incessantly changing tourist preferences towards secluded lifestyles and demand for serene landscapes as well as lacklustre implementation status of land development regulations were primarily attributed to this sporadic nature of land use conversions in this region. Based on the findings, a few realistically attainable management guidelines have been recommended towards develo** a true ‘smart city’ in terms of both ecological composure and sustenance of tourism initiatives.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Supplementary Table 20.4

Supplementary Table 20.4 LULC statistics of the study area from 2000 to 2018

Appendix 2

See Fig. 20.8

Fig. 20.8

LULC Map of the study area